Youth Leadership Development (Santa Fe County)

One of the highlights of the work the officer team completed was a contest carnival. Each officer was responsible for a specific contest area for which they developed an interactive game to help members become more aware of the event. 38 members participated in this event.

Santa Fe County 4-H has a very strong county council consisting of representation from all the clubs within the county. This year's team of county council officers consisted of 6 members from 4 different clubs. Four of these members were new to the officer team and had never served as an officer on the county level before. The 4-H agents worked with the team throughout the year to provide leadership training. The year began with an in depth officer training and planning session. The agent developed and adapted exercises which would facilitate the team fully understanding their roles as officers, and enabling them to become more familiar with one another. The team participated in exercises where they were able use analytical skills, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and work together to complete several physical challenges.


100 % of the officers on the county council team attended leadership events at both the county and state level. These events include Senior Leadership Retreat, Youth Get-Away, and State 4-H Conference.

As part of the County Council Officer training the team decided that one of their activities would be to sponsor a county project fair. The goal of the fair was to increase the awareness of the various projects that Santa Fe County has to offer. With the assistance of the agents, the officer team took the lead on organizing the fair arranging for booths to be set up for the different project areas. The fair was a huge success with 14 different booths being set up. 100% of the clubs participated in the fair and over 100 people attended the one night event.

Santa Fe County 4-H has a very strong county council consisting of representation from all the clubs within the county. This year's team of county council officers consisted of 6 members from 4 different clubs. Four of these members were new to the officer team and had never served as an officer on the county level before. The 4-H agents worked with the team throughout the year to provide leadership training. The year began with an in depth officer training and planning session. The agent developed and adapted exercises which would facilitate the team fully understanding their roles as officers, and enabling them to become more familiar with one another. The team participated in exercises where they were able use analytical skills, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and work together to complete several physical challenges.

One of the highlights of this year’s officer training was a program planning session. In order to help the officers comprehend all the different aspects of planning and carrying out a program, the agent developed a program planning worksheet. The agent assigned each officer a fictional program that they would have to plan for their audience. The officers were given a budget, a timeline, a target audience, and a topic. By using the program planning worksheet the officers were able to work through their goals, identify and utilize available resources, and assess risks involved in every program. After completing the exercise the officers were able to understand the “behind the scenes” look at what goes in to making a program successful. The agent was able to refer back to this exercise throughout the year as the officers were put in charge of planning various programs.

100 % of the officers on the county council team attended leadership events at both the county and state level. These events include Senior Leadership Retreat, Youth Get-Away, and State 4-H Conference.
Santa Fe County also had 2 members complete and submit a New Mexico State 4-H Portfolio. Both members were selected to attend National 4-H Congress in Atlanta, GA as part of the New Mexico delegation this fall.

This year the main focus for the council officers leadership training was NE/ NW District Contest. The team worked throughout the year planning and organizing this major event. In order to facilitate the planning of the contest, six different committees were formed. Each council officer was either a chair or member of these committees. The committees included; evening activities, workshops, fundraising, PR, registration, and concession stand. The officers worked with both leaders and members to organize the contest through these committees. With the assistance of the council officers the contest was a huge success.